Brent residents will have the power to determine who will run the council for the next four years by voting in the local elections today.

Voters will decide which political party will be responsible for managing vital services including refuse collections, repairing potholes in the road and children’s services.

Candidates have outlined detailed plans to tackle some of the pressing issues affecting the borough, ranging from reopening closed libraries to changing parking charges.

The latter is a prominent issue, according to Tony Antoniou, chairman of the Traders Association, Willesden Green.

He said: “The council should introduce cheaper parking to help get people back into the area and stop using CCTV cameras to enforce parking tickets but to serve their original purpose of protecting our community.”

Leroy Simpson, chairman of the Harlesden Town Team, has outlined the need to fill the potholes plaguing the borough.

He said “They are not potholes, some of them are craters. The council needs to address the problem and allocate more funds to the road maintenance programmes. If they haven’t got the funds, they need to explore other funding schemes to tackle the problem, because it can only get worse.”

In 2011, the council axed six libraries in a bid to save £1m a year.

Jodi Gramigni, who has campaigned to keep Kensal Rise library open, said: “I think people feel let down by the council over the closure of the libraries. For them it is still very raw.

“We should have libraries reinstated because it is a very big loss and we are lacking a nearby community space which allows people to access books and computers.”

Ian Elliott, who spearheaded the save the Queensbury campaign spoke of the need for the council to preserve community spaces.

The result of the elections will be announced on this website from 3am tomorrow.